Flatband λ-Ti3O5 towards extraordinary solar steam generation.

Solar steam interfacial evaporation represents a promising strategy for seawater desalination and wastewater purification owing to its environmentally friendly character1-3. To improve the solar-to-steam generation, most previous efforts have focused on effectively harvesting solar energy over the full solar spectrum4-7. However, the importance of tuning joint densities of states in enhancing solar absorption of photothermal materials is less emphasized. Here we propose a route to greatly elevate joint densities of states by introducing a flat-band electronic structure. Our study reveals that metallic λ-Ti3O5 powders show a high solar absorptivity of 96.4% due to Ti-Ti dimer-induced flat bands around the Fermi level. By incorporating them into three-dimensional porous hydrogel-based evaporators with a conical cavity, an unprecedentedly high evaporation rate of roughly 6.09 kilograms per square metre per hour is achieved for 3.5 weight percent saline water under 1 sun of irradiation without salt precipitation. Fundamentally, the Ti-Ti dimers and U-shaped groove structure exposed on the λ-Ti3O5 surface facilitate the dissociation of adsorbed water molecules and benefit the interfacial water evaporation in the form of small clusters. The present work highlights the crucial roles of Ti-Ti dimer-induced flat bands in enchaining solar absorption and peculiar U-shaped grooves in promoting water dissociation, offering insights into access to cost-effective solar-to-steam generation.

Diagnostic performance of CA125, HE4, ROMA, and CPH-I in identifying primary ovarian cancer.

AIMS: To evaluate the ability of carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm (ROMA), and Copenhagen Index (CPH-I) to identify primary ovarian cancer (OC) from borderline and benign ovarian tumors (OTs) and explore ideal cutoff points. METHODS: A total of 684 OTs containing 276 OC patients, 116 ovarian borderline OTs and 292 benign OTs patients who underwent surgery in our hospital were included. We retrospectively searched the results of CA125 and HE4 before patients' surgery from the hospital's electronic medical records system. ROMA and CPH-I were calculated according to their menopausal status and age, respectively. Diagnostic performance of these four were assessed by drawing receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. RESULTS: CA125, HE4, ROMA, and CPH-I were all significantly higher in OC women compared with borderline OTs (p < 0.001), followed by benign OTs (p < 0.001). Area under the curves (AUCs) for distinguishing OC were 0.850 (0.818-0.882), 0.891 (0.865-0.916), 0.910 (0.888-0.933) and 0.906 (0.882-0.930), respectively, and the corresponding ideal cutoff values for CA125, HE4, ROMA, and CPH-I were 132.5, 68.6, 23.8, and 6.4, respectively. The difference between ROMA and CPH-I was not significant (p = 0.97), but both were higher than CA125 and HE4 (p < 0.05). HE4 showed a significantly higher AUC than CA125 (p < 0.05). For postmenopausal women, CA125 performed equivalently to ROMA (p = 0.73) and CPH-I (p = 0.91). CONCLUSIONS: In identifying patients with OC, ROMA and CPH-I outperformed single tumor marker. The diagnostic performance of HE4 was significantly higher than that of CA125. CA125 was more suitable for postmenopausal women.

[Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction attenuates fibrosis in endometriosis through regulating PTEN/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway].

The present study aimed to investigate the protective role of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction(SFZY) against endometriosis fibrosis in mice, and decipher the underlying mechanism through the phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten(PTEN)/protein kinase B(Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR) pathway. Eighty-five BALB/c female mice were randomly assigned into a blank group, a model group, high-, medium, and low-dose SFZY(SFZY-H, SFZY-M, and SFZY-L, respectively) groups, and a gestrinone suspension(YT) group. The model of endometriosis was induced by intraperitoneal injection of uterine fragments. The mice in different groups were administrated with corresponding groups by gavage 14 days after modeling, and the blank group and model group with equal volume of distilled water by gavage. The treatment lasted for 14 days. The body weight, paw withdrawal latency caused by heat stimuli, and total weight of dissected ectopic focus were compared between different groups. The pathological changes of the ectopic tissue were observed via hematoxylin-eosin(HE) and Masson staining. Real-time PCR was employed to measure the mRNA levels of α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA) and collagen type Ⅰ(collagen-Ⅰ) in the ectopic tissue. The protein levels of PTEN, Akt, mTOR, p-Akt, and p-mTOR in the ectopic tissue were determined by Western blot. Compared with the blank group, the modeling first decreased and then increased the body weight of mice, increased the total weight of ectopic focus, and shortened the paw withdrawal latency. Compared with the model group, SFZY and YT increased the body weight, prolonged the paw withdrawal latency, and decreased the weight of ectopic focus. Furthermore, the drug administration, especially SFZY-H and YT(P<0.01), recovered the pathological and reduced the area of collagen deposition. Compared with the blank group, the modeling up-regulated the mRNA levels of α-SMA and collagen-Ⅰ in the ectopic focus, and such up-regulation was attenuated after drug intervention, especially in the SFZY-H and YT groups(P<0.05,P<0.01). Compared with the blank group, the modeling down-regulated the protein level of PTEN and up-regulated the protein levels of Akt, mTOR, p-Akt, and p-mTOR(P<0.01, P<0.001). Drug administration, especially SFZY-H and YT, restored such changes(P<0.01). SFZY may significantly attenuate the focal fibrosis in the mouse model of endometriosis by regulating the PTEN/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.

Sirtuin 6 regulates macrophage polarization to alleviate sepsis-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome via dual mechanisms dependent on and independent of autophagy.

BACKGROUND AIMS: Sepsis-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) can be mediated by an imbalance in macrophage polarization; however, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the modulatory role of sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) in macrophage polarization during sepsis-induced ARDS. METHODS: A mouse ARDS model was established using cecal ligation and puncture. Isolated alveolar macrophages (AMs) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were adopted as in vitro models. Macrophage polarization was evaluated by measuring M1 and M2 macrophage percentages via flow cytometry and expression of specific markers. The expression of microtubule-associated light chain protein 3I/II and beclin-1 was detected for assessing macrophage autophagy. Binding between specificity protein 1 (SP1) and the target gene promoter was evaluated using a chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. RNA expression was analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. RESULTS: Treatment with the SIRT6 activator UBCS039 significantly alleviated lung injury in the mouse ARDS model and enhanced autophagy and M2 polarization in isolated AMs. M2 polarization and autophagy in LPS-challenged BMDMs were also effectively promoted by UBCS039 treatment or SIRT6 overexpression. An adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase inhibitor (Compound C) or autophagy inhibitor (3-methyladenine) partially abrogated M2 polarization mediated by SIRT6 overexpression upon LPS exposure. SIRT6 induced autophagy and M2 polarization of BMDMs partially via its deacetylase activity. SIRT6 inhibited mammalian target of rapamycin transcription by modulating SP1 to promote BMDM M2 polarization, which was independent of autophagy. CONCLUSIONS: SIRT6 promotes M2 polarization of macrophages to alleviate sepsis-induced ARDS in an autophagy-dependent and -independent manner.

IncRNA XIST Targets miR-124/JAG1 via CeRNA Mechanism to Facilitate the Migration and Proliferation of Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to characterize the effect of lncRNA XIST on the migration as well as proliferation of tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) and its associated molecular mechanisms. METHODS: Chip-seq analysis screened the aberrant lncRNA in TSCC patients. CCK-8 and scratch experiment detected cell migration and proliferation in TSCC after lncRNA XIST inhibition. We predicted and verified lncRNA XIST target miRNA. CCK-8 and scratch test examined the cell migration and proliferation effects in TSCC after transfection of miR-124 mimics. Luciferase reporter experiment confirmed the interaction of miR-124 with JAG1. Western blot validated influence of lncRNA XIST on miR-124/JAG1 axis. RESULTS: We found that lncRNA XIST was up-regulated in TSCC patients, and it facilitated the TSCC cell migration and proliferation in vitro. lncRNA XIST regulated miR-124 expression through ceRNA mechanism. Up-regulating miR-124 significantly inhibited TSCC cell migration and proliferation. JAG1 acted as immediate target of miR-124. Moreover, lncRNA XIST targeted miR-124 to regulate JAG1 levels through the ceRNA mechanism. CONCLUSIONS: IncRNA XIST encourages TSCC migration and proliferation by modulating miR-124/JAG1 axis.

GRP75-driven, cell-cycle-dependent macropinocytosis of Tat/pDNA-Ca2+ nanoparticles underlies distinct gene therapy effect in ovarian cancer.

Practice of tumor-targeted suicide gene therapy is hampered by unsafe and low efficient delivery of plasmid DNA (pDNA). Using HIV-Tat-derived peptide (Tat) to non-covalently form Tat/pDNA complexes advances the delivery performance. However, this innovative approach is still limited by intracellular delivery efficiency and cell-cycle status. In this study, Tat/pDNA complexes were further condensed into smaller, nontoxic nanoparticles by Ca2+ addition. Formulated Tat/pDNA-Ca2+ nanoparticles mainly use macropinocytosis for intercellular delivery, and their macropinocytic uptake was persisted in mitosis (M-) phase and highly activated in DNA synthesis (S-) phase of cell-cycle. Over-expression or phosphorylation of a mitochondrial chaperone, 75-kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP75), promoted monopolar spindle kinase 1 (MPS1)-controlled centrosome duplication and cell-cycle progress, but also driven cell-cycle-dependent macropinocytosis of Tat/pDNA-Ca2+ nanoparticles. Further in vivo molecular imaging based on DF (Fluc-eGFP)-TF (RFP-Rluc-HSV-ttk) system showed that Tat/pDNA-Ca2+ nanoparticles exhibited highly suicide gene therapy efficiency in mouse model xenografted with human ovarian cancer. Furthermore, arresting cell-cycle at S-phase markedly enhanced delivery performance of Tat/pDNA-Ca2+ nanoparticles, whereas targeting GRP75 reduced their macropinocytic delivery. More importantly, in vivo targeting GRP75 combined with cell-cycle or macropinocytosis inhibitors exhibited distinct suicide gene therapy efficiency. In summary, our data highlight that mitochondrial chaperone GRP75 moonlights as a biphasic driver underlying cell-cycle-dependent macropinocytosis of Tat/pDNA-Ca2+ nanoparticles in ovarian cancer.

Comparison of Conduits Fabricated by Fresh and Predegenerated Skeletal Muscles for Peripheral Nerve Repairing.

ABSTRACT: Reconstruction of peripheral nerve injury remains a challenge for clinical medicine. Previous reports have confirmed that external oblique muscle-fabricated nerve conduit (EMC) could effectively be used to promote peripheral nerve regeneration. In this study, we compared between conduits fabricated from fresh muscle and conduits fabricated from predegenerated muscle for the repair of peripheral nerve defects in a mouse sciatic nerve transection model. We found that the number, diameter, and myelin sheath thickness of the myelinated nerve fibers of the regenerative nerve in the EMC group were larger than those of the predegenerated-EMC (P-EMC) group eight weeks after surgery. The sciatic function index and gastrocnemius wet-weight mass ratio in the EMC group were higher than those in the P-EMC group. The Bcl-2/Bax ratio and the number of Schwann cell nucleus in the proximal nerve stumps in the EMC group were greater than those in the P-EMC group. In conclusion, our results confirmed that the use of fresh skeletal muscle nerve conduit increased the Bcl-2/Bax ratio and promoted the survival of Schwann cells of the proximal nerve stump compared with that of predegenerated skeletal muscle nerve conduits, thus achieving better functional recovery after sciatic nerve defect.

Influence of heel design on lower extremity biomechanics and comfort perception in overground running.

The study investigated whether an alteration of the shoe heel curvature would influence lower extremity biomechanics and comfort perception in running. Twenty recreational habitual rearfoot strikers performed five running trials in running shoes with three different heel curvature designs (short-parallel, long-parallel and oblique curvatures). Synchronised force plate and motion capturing systems were used to collect three-dimensional lower extremity joint kinetics and kinematics, followed by subjective comfort perception on the 15 cm Visual Analogue Scale. The results showed that participants wearing oblique and long-parallel curvature shoes exhibited larger initial frontal shoe-ground angle (p= 0.003, p= 0.016) and ankle inversion angle (p= 0.008, p= 0.032) as well as higher maximum sagittal foot slap velocity (p= 0.041, p = 0.011) compared with a short-parallel curvature shoe. When wearing the short-parallel curvature shoe, participants had better rearfoot stability perception than the oblique curvature shoes (p = 0.028). These results suggest that the short parallel curvature shoes had better motion control and stability perception than the other two curvature conditions. However, the design of heel curvature seems to have minimal influence on the cushioning related variables in running.

[Mechanism of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction in treatment of EMT induced dysmenorrhea based on network pharmacology and molecular docking].

Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform(TCMSP) and Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine(BATMAN-TCM) were searched for the effective components and targets of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction. The relevant targets for endometriosis(EMT) and dysmenorrhea were retrieved from the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database(CTD), Therapeutic Target Database(TTD), GeneCards, and DisGeNET with the terms of "endometriosis" and "dysmenorrhea". Cytoscape 3.8.0 was employed to construct the drug-active component-therapeutic target network. A protein-protein interaction(PPI) network was established by STRING 11.0. Analyze Network, the plug-in in the Cytoscape 3.8.0, was used to calculate the topological parameters of the nodes and screen out the critical proteins in the network. The potential therapeutic targets were imported into RStudio and subjected to Gene Ontology(GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) enrichment analyses with clusterProfiler package. Finally, the AutoDock Vina(Vina) platform was used for molecular docking to predict the binding degree of the main active components of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction to key targets. As revealed by the screening results, 136 active components and 380 targets of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction were obtained. Additionally, there were 1 627 targets related to EMT and 142 targets related to dysmenorrhea with 107 common targets, and 42 potential therapeutic targets of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction for the treatment of EMT-induced dysmenorrhea. The targets such as interleukin 6(IL6) and prostaglandi-nendoperoxide synthase-2(PTGS2) were pivotal in the biological network of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction intervention in EMT-induced dysmenorrhea, which involved multiple signaling pathways, including inflammation, hormones, and those promoted cell proliferation [e.g., mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase(PI3 K)-protein kinase B(AKT)]. The results of molecular docking showed that the active components of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction had good binding capacities to key targets such as IL6 and PTGS2. The findings of this study demonstrated that Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction could treat EMT-induced dysmenorrhea through multiple targets and multiple pathways, which could provide new ideas for investigating the underlying mechanism of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction in the treatment of EMT-induced dysmenorrhea.

Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of PD-1/PD-L1 axis expression in patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma.

Tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) is more aggressive than other head and neck tumors, and the prognosis for patients with advanced TSCC is poor. At present, comprehensive treatment based on surgery as the main method is not effective for patients with advanced TSCC. The application of PD-1/PD-L1 immunocheckpoint inhibitor alone in patients with TSCC has not been reported. To explore the role of PD-1/PD-L1, we investigated the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in TSCC and analyzed the relationship between the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 and the related clinicopathological parameters and survival prognosis. The expression of PD-1 was significantly associated with palindromia (p = .015) and maximum diameter (p = .043). The expression of PD-L1 in tumor cells was significantly associated with N stage (P = .024), chemotherapy (p = .032), and clinical stage (p = .019). The expression of PD-L1 in infiltrating lymphocytes was significantly associated with palindromia (p = .030). Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses for prognoses of patients showed significant prognostic factors of overall survival and relapse-free survival. The high expression of PD-L1 on infiltrating lymphocytes for OS and RFS was an independent protective factor for patients with TSCC. The high expression of PD-1 on infiltrating lymphocytes and clinical stage for OS and RFS were independent risk factors for patients with TSCC. The data provide a reference for clinical treatment of TSCC with immunotherapy.

MicroRNA-133b suppresses bladder cancer malignancy by targeting TAGLN2-mediated cell cycle.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a group of small noncoding RNAs, are widely involved in the regulation of gene expression via binding to complementary sequences at 3'-untranslated regions (3'-UTRs) of target messenger RNAs. Recently, downregulation of miR-133b has been detected in various human malignancies. Here, the potential biological role of miR-133b in bladder cancer (BC) was investigated. In this study, we found the expression of miR-133b was markedly downregulated in BC tissues and cell lines (5637 and T24), and was correlated with poor overall survival. Notably, transgelin 2 (TAGLN2) was found to be widely upregulated in BC, and overexpression of TAGLN2 also significantly increased risks of advanced TMN stage. We further identified that upregulation of miR-133b inhibited glucose uptake, invasion, angiogenesis, colony formation and enhances gemcitabine chemosensitivity in BC cell lines by targeting TAGLN2. Additionally, we showed that miR-133b promoted the proliferation of BC cells, at least partially through a TAGLN2-mediated cell cycle pathway. Our results suggest a novel miR-133b/TAGLN2/cell cycle pathway axis controlling BC progression; a molecular mechanism which may offer a potential therapeutic target.

Effect of shoe wearing time and midsole hardness on ground reaction forces, ankle stability and perceived comfort in basketball landing.

This study examined the effect of wearing time on comfort perception and landing biomechanics of basketball shoes with different midsole hardness. Fifteen basketball players performed drop landing and layup first step while wearing shoes of different wearing time (new, 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-week) and hardness (soft, medium and hard). Two-way ANOVA with repeated measures was performed on GRF, ankle kinematic and comfort perception variables. Increased wearing time was associated with poorer force attenuation and comfort perception during landing activities (p < 0.05). The new shoes had significantly smaller forefoot (2- and 4-week) and rearfoot peak GRF impacts (all time conditions) in drop landing and smaller rearfoot peak GRF impact (6- and 8-week) in layup; shoes with 4-week of wearing time had significantly better perceptions of forefoot cushioning, forefoot stability, rearfoot cushioning, rearfoot stability and overall comfort than the new shoes (p < 0.05). Compared with hard shoes, the soft shoes had better rearfoot cushioning but poorer forefoot cushioning (p < 0.05). Shoe hardness and wearing time would play an influential role in GRF and comfort perception, but not in ankle kinematics. Although shoe cushioning performance would decrease even after a short wearing period, the best comfort perception was found at 4-week wearing time.

Effect of Dermabrasion and ReCell® on Large Superficial Facial Scars Caused by Burn, Trauma and Acnes△.

Objective To explore the effects of dermabrasion combined with ReCell® on large superficial facial scars caused by burn, trauma and acnes.Methods Nineteen patients with large superficial facial scars were treated by the same surgeon with dermabrasion combined with ReCell®. According to the etiology, patients were classified into post-burning group (n=5), post-traumatic group (n=7) and post-acne group (n=7). Fifteen patients completed the follow-ups, 5 patients in each group. Healing time, complication rate, the preoperative and 18-month-post-operative assessments using Patient Satisfaction Score (PSS), Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS), and Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) of each group were analyzed to compare the effect of the combined therapy on outcomes.Results The healing time of post-burning group (19.6±4.0 days), post-traumatic group (15.8±2.6 days), and post-acne group (11.4±3.1 days) varied remarkably (F=7.701, P=0.007). The complication rates were 60%, 20%, and 0 respectively. The post-operative POSAS improved significantly in all groups (P<0.05), where the most significant improvement was shown in the post-acne group (P<0.05). The post-operative PSS and VSS improved only in the post-traumatic group and post-acne group (all P<0.05), where the more significant improvement was also shown in the post-acne group (P<0.05).Conclusions The combined treatment of dermabrasion and ReCell® has remarkable effect on acne scars, moderate effect on traumatic scars and is not suggested for burn scars. POSAS should be applied to assess the therapeutic effects of treatments for large irregular scars.

Surgical treatment of giant aneurysm of hepatic artery: report of three cases.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To explore the surgical way of treating giant hepatic artery aneurysm(HAA). METHODOLOGY: Three hepatic artery aneurysm patients who were performed aneurysm resection without revascularization of the hepatic artery were reviewed. After surgery, the values of liver function and enhanced CT scan of the patients were followed. RESULTS: All the three patients were recovered well postoperatively and only several values of biochemistry marks of liver function as ALT, AST, TBIL and DB in one case with liver cirrhosis were elevated and decreased to normal ranges in a few days postoperatively. The values of biochemistry marks of liver function in other two cases were within normal limits. The enhanced CT scan also showed arteries in the liver after hepatic artery aneurysm resection. CONCLUSIONS: Giant HAA may be safely removed without revascularization of the hepatic artery.

[MiR-124 suppresses the proliferation of human prostate cancer PC3 cells by targeting PKM2].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the mechanism of miR-124 inhibiting the proliferative activity of prostate cancer PC3 cells. METHODS: Luciferase reporter gene assay was used to examine the specific binding ability of miR-124 to PKM2 mRNA 3'-UTR. After miR-124 was transfected mimic to PC3 cells, the expression levels of PKM2 mRNA and protein were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot, respectively. The effects of miR-124 mimic and PKM2 siRNA on the proliferative activity of the PC3 cells were determined by MTT assay. RESULTS: The expressions of PKM2 mRNA and protein were upregulated (5.12 +/- 0.35) times and (4.05 +/- 0.20) times respectively in the PC3 cells as compared with those in the RWPE-1 cells (P < 0.05). Luciferase reporter gene assay demonstrated that miR-124 targeted PKM2 3'-UTR. At 24 hours after transfection with miR-124 mimic, the PKM2 protein expression in the PC3 cells was downregulated (0.16 +/- 0.04) times (P < 0.05), while the PKM2 mRNA level was not changed significantly (P > 0.05), as compared with the control group. MTT assay showed that both miRNA-124 mimic and PKM2 siRNA could inhibit the proliferation of the PC3 cells, but the former exhibited a greater inhibitory effect than the latter. After transfection with miR-124 mimic and PKM2 siRNA, the cell growth rates were (66.20 +/- 5.10)% vs (82.10 +/- 6.35)% at 24 hours (P < 0.05) and (49.34 +/- 2.37)% vs (70.10 +/- 5.80)% at 48 hours (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: miR-124 can suppress the proliferation of PC3 cells by regulating the PKM2 gene.

Basketball technique action recognition using 3D convolutional neural networks.

This research investigates the recognition of basketball techniques actions through the implementation of three-dimensional (3D) Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), aiming to enhance the accurate and automated identification of various actions in basketball games. Initially, basketball action sequences are extracted from publicly available basketball action datasets, followed by data preprocessing, including image sampling, data augmentation, and label processing. Subsequently, a novel action recognition model is proposed, combining 3D convolutions and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks to model temporal features and capture the spatiotemporal relationships and temporal information of actions. This facilitates the facilitating automatic learning of the spatiotemporal features associated with basketball actions. The model's performance and robustness are further improved through the adoption of optimization algorithms, such as adaptive learning rate adjustment and regularization. The efficacy of the proposed method is verified through experiments conducted on three publicly available basketball action datasets: NTURGB + D, Basketball-Action-Dataset, and B3D Dataset. The results indicate that this approach achieves outstanding performance in basketball technique action recognition tasks across different datasets compared to two common traditional methods. Specifically, when compared to the frame difference-based method, this model exhibits a significant accuracy improvement of 15.1%. When compared to the optical flow-based method, this model demonstrates a substantial accuracy improvement of 12.4%. Moreover, this method showcases strong robustness, accurately recognizing actions under diverse lighting conditions and scenes, achieving an average accuracy of 93.1%. The research demonstrates that the method reported here effectively captures the spatiotemporal relationships of basketball actions, thereby providing reliable technical assessment tools for basketball coaches and players.

Texture-Differentiated Grain Growth in Silicon Steel: Experiments and Modeling.

Grain growth for various texture components in silicon steel was investigated via experiments and modeling. It was found that the clustered spatial arrangement of grains with specific orientations significantly altered the local environment for grain growth and consequently resulted in texture-differentiated grain size distribution (GSD) evolution. A novel local-field model was proposed to describe grain growth driven by continuous changing orientation and size distribution of adjacent grains. The modelling results show that the texture-differentiated grain growth in microstructure with grain clusters can produce a GSD with increased proportion in small-sized range and large-sized range by more than two-times, accompanied with an evident change in area fractions of various texture components. The effect of clustered spatial arrangement on grain growth can be precisely predicted, which is valuable to design and control the texture-differentiated GSD as well as the global GSD.

Realization of Large Low-Stress Elastocaloric Effect in TiZrNbAl Alloy.

Seeking novel high-performance elastocaloric materials with low critical stress plays a crucial role in advancing the development of elastocaloric refrigeration technology. Here, as a first attempt, the elastocaloric effect of TiZrNbAl shape memory alloy at both room temperature and finite temperatures ranging from 245 K to 405 K, is studied systematically. Composition optimization shows that Ti-19Zr-14Nb-1Al (at.%), possessing excellent room-temperature superelasticity with a critical stress of around 100 MPa and a small stress hysteresis of around 70 MPa and outstanding fracture resistance with a compressive strain of 20% and stress of 1.7 GPa, demonstrates a substantial advantage as an elastocaloric refrigerant. At room temperature, a large adiabatic temperature change (ΔTad) of -6.7 K is detected, which is comparable to the highest value reported in the Ti-based alloys. A high elastocaloric cyclic stability, with almost no degradation of ΔTad after 4000 cycles, is observed. Furthermore, the sizeable elastocaloric effect can be steadily expanded from 255 K to 395 K with a temperature window of as large as 140 K. A maximum ΔTad of -7.9 K appears at 355 K. The present work demonstrates a promising potential of TiZrNbAl as a low critical stress and low hysteresis elastocaloric refrigerant.

Layer-by-layer phase transformation in Ti3O5 revealed by machine-learning molecular dynamics simulations.

Reconstructive phase transitions involving breaking and reconstruction of primary chemical bonds are ubiquitous and important for many technological applications. In contrast to displacive phase transitions, the dynamics of reconstructive phase transitions are usually slow due to the large energy barrier. Nevertheless, the reconstructive phase transformation from ß- to λ-Ti3O5 exhibits an ultrafast and reversible behavior. Despite extensive studies, the underlying microscopic mechanism remains unclear. Here, we discover a kinetically favorable in-plane nucleated layer-by-layer transformation mechanism through metadynamics and large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. This is enabled by developing an efficient machine learning potential with near first-principles accuracy through an on-the-fly active learning method and an advanced sampling technique. Our results reveal that the ß-λ phase transformation initiates with the formation of two-dimensional nuclei in the ab-plane and then proceeds layer-by-layer through a multistep barrier-lowering kinetic process via intermediate metastable phases. Our work not only provides important insight into the ultrafast and reversible nature of the ß-λ transition, but also presents useful strategies and methods for tackling other complex structural phase transitions.

HPV E6/E7: insights into their regulatory role and mechanism in signaling pathways in HPV-associated tumor.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a class of envelope-free double-stranded DNA virus. HPV infection has been strongly associated with the development of many malignancies, such as cervical, anal and oral cancers. The viral oncoproteins E6 and E7 perform central roles on HPV-induced carcinogenic processes. During tumor development, it usually goes along with the activation of abnormal signaling pathways. E6 and E7 induces changes in cell cycle, proliferation, invasion, metastasis and other biological behaviors by affecting downstream tumor-related signaling pathways, thus promoting malignant transformation of cells and ultimately leading to tumorigenesis and progression. Here, we summarized that E6 and E7 proteins promote HPV-associated tumorigenesis and development by regulating the activation of various tumor-related signaling pathways, for example, the Wnt/ß-catenin, PI3K/Akt, and NF-kB signaling pathway. We also discussed the importance of HPV-encoded E6 and E7 and their regulated tumor-related signaling pathways for the diagnosis and effective treatment of HPV-associated tumors.